Tag: sawdust

Sawdust is a by-product produced from wood. Sawdust is produced in large volumes in the saw mills when wood is processed to produce timber. It is also produced during in the timber industries as fine wood shavings. There are different ways in which sawdust can be utilized instead of just leaving it to occupy the landfills.

Used as a mulch

Sawdust can be used as a mulching material for your plants. This product is organic innature and can be given time to decompose to produce organic manure. You are advised to take your soil for testing before using this type of manure since some of these manures are highly acidic. However, you need to be careful when using this manure since there are some wood types which contain certain types of herbicides which would be harmful to your plants.

Furthermore, the recycled sawdust can also be used for mulching the garden paths. Another benefit of using sawdust as the mulching material is that it provides a comprehensive soil cover thereby preventing soil erosion from taking place. There are some types of sawdust which are also very useful in smoothing weeds.

Cleaning the floor

Most people are faced with a challenge of cleaning their house floors especially when there is an oil spillage. Sawdust can be an ideal solution to this problem. This is done by spreading over this product on the garage floor or the shop floor. Sweeping of the floor is then done after the sawdust has absorbed all the oil. Sawdust helps in absorbing any spills or grime thus facilitating the cleaning process.

Sawdust has a high absorbency and can, therefore, be used for cleaning the paint cans before disposing of them. Sawdust absorbs all the remaining paint making the container to dry completely. The cleaned container can then be trashed.

Smoking

Wood chips and sawdust are utilized in the smoking process. Smoking is one of the traditional methods used for preserving meat. Additionally, the wood products are also used for adding flavour to foods. However, you should only use clean hardwood which is free from resin, nails, and glue. The wood chips are soaked in water and then wrapped using a perforated foil.

The foil is then placed directly on the hot charcoals or near the source of heat. Smoke is produced when the wood gets hot. This is the smoke used in flavouring the meat.

Used as a fire starter

Sawdust can be mixed with wax to produce a fire starter-brick. Wood shavings and sawdust are packed using a towel roll. The melted wax is then poured on the wood shavings to facilitate the hardening process. The hardened product produces a home-made fire starter log.